The Hocus to my Pocus
by Jude81
Summary: Loosely based on the 1993 Disney movie Hocus Pocus. This story is multi-chapter with probably eight chapters total. It will be finished and posted on 10/31/18. Clexa, witches, Salem, Halloween Hijinks, Raven, Echo, Anya, Nia, Clarke, Lexa, Madi, and Aden. And a talking cat! Rating may change
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: The rating may change, and more tags will be added as this continues.**

"Come on, Madi! We are going to be late if you don't get a wiggle on!" Clarke stood at the bottom of the staircase, hand on the railing as she leaned forward in an attempt to project her voice so her nine year old sister would hurry up. She'd promised Madi she would take her trick or treating, and it was already 7:00 pm. If they hurried, she could be back in time at 9:00pm and make her way to the party at the Tri mansion being thrown by none other than her new highschool crush, one Lexa Tri, Captain of both the swim team and cross country team.

She tapped her fingers on the bannister, wincing when she noticed some flecks of dry paint still embedded around her fingernails. "Crap," she muttered as she tried to pick away the paint. She was interrupted though by a loud yell, and she looked up just in time to catch the small body clad in a Wonder Woman costume.

She stumbled backwards, her feet desperately trying to regain their footing as she wrapped her arms tightly around her younger sister, but the sheer force of small body hurling through gravity propelled her backwards into a wall with a loud thump.

"Damn, Madi!" She yelped as she wheezed from getting the air partially knocked out of her. She let Madi slowly slide down her body, while she bent over, hands on her knees wheezing slightly.

"You shouldn't swear, Clarke."

"And you shouldn't throw yourself down the stairs like that, Madi! What if I hadn't caught you?!"

Madi cocked her head, looking up at her sister before smiling a little. "But you always catch me, Clarke. Always."

Clarke stood slowly and looked down at her younger sister. Madi might have been nine, but she was the size of a six year old, a small six year old. She'd been sick most of her life, the doctors never really understanding the stomach pain and wild mood swings that plagued the young child. Her parents had abandoned her at the age of three in the hospital, deciding that the medical bills and a sickly child were simply too much for them.

Abby had been her doctor, specializing in diseases and pediatric care, but it had been Clarke who had fallen in love with Madi one day when she visited Abby at the hospital. It didn't take much convincing, Jake and Abby had always wanted more children, but the time had never been right, and ten year old Clarke had convinced them that this child had been waiting for them, and they her.

The adoption had become official when she was five years old, and now they understood better Madi's sensory issues and her dyslexia. Her stomach issues meant she was on a restricted, no dairy and no gluten diet, which made Halloween, her favorite holiday, particularly….tricky.

But Clarke was ready, her backpack stuffed with an extra Wonder Woman costume, wipes, underwear, water, noise-canceling headphones, and special gluten and dairy free candy. Candy she would sneak into Madi's plastic, pumpkin head basket and exchange for the snickers and kit-kat bars when Madi was inevitably distracted by something else.

Madi's stomach issues also usually meant Madi was prone to accidents, something that was often humiliating for Madi, but after years of this, they had a system in place, and Clarke was very good at helping minimize her sister's shame, turning it into a game of costume changes.

She ruffled the top of Madi's head, laughing at the way Madi jerked her head away. "Noooo! My hair, Clarke!"

She laughed again, "You hair is fine, Madi." She leaned down so they were eye to eye and tapped Madi on the nose. "Hey…" she waited for Madi to look at her. "I will always catch you, Madi. Always."

"I know." Madi smiled happily, clutching her shield and grabbed Clarke's hand. "Let's go!" She pulled on Clarke's hand, her small feet skipping along as Clarke chuckled and let herself be pulled out of the house, stopping only to turn and lock the door, before they stepped into the small crowds of children running about along the long sidewalks framed by tall trees and light posts every six feet.

Lexa stepped out of the house, shutting out most of the noise behind her. It was eight, and the party was supposed to start in another hour or so, although judging by the number of people in her parents' home, they party was already well under way. The basement had been set up for her and her friends, while the ground floor was reserved for the adults to have their own Halloween party.

The adult theme this year was Unconventional Couples, and she shuddered at the thought of how many Jokers and Harley Quinns would probably show up at the party. But she supposed the theme was fitting, since her parents were considered fairly unconventional. Her mother, Indra Tri, was a four star general in the Marines, the only woman to ever achieve such a high rank, and she was technically retired, but she made a lot of trips from their home in Salem, Massachusetts to Washington DC, trips that she couldn't speak about. And her father Gustus Tri was a great hulking man with more tattoos than he spoke languages, and he spoke seven. He taught Economics and Classical Literature at Salem State University.

Her parents roots were deep in Salem, especially her mother's. Her mother's family had been here since the early 1600's, one of the original families. Her grandfather back twelve or so generations had been one of the first black slaves brought to Salem in the 1630's, only a couple of years after Salem had been founded. It had been his grandson who had earned his freedom, and the subsequent generations had been freemen despite slavery not being abolished until the 1790's in Massachusetts.

Their roots were deep, and Lexa's freed tenth generation grandfather had taken the last name _Sangedakru,_ in honor of his African grandfather's clan. But over the years it had been Anglicized and then Americanized until it was simply Sanderson. It was a seemingly simple, innocuous name, and most had forgotten it's African origins, but it still caused people in Salem to pause when they heard it.

Because when people thought of Salem, they thought of the Salem Witch Trials, and those who visited Salem, quickly learned of another trial, the trial of the three Sanderson Sisters. Three sisters, all witches, accused of sucking the life of the children of the village, so the sisters could be immortal.

And on October 31, 1693, the three sisters were hanged in the dead of night by the light of dozens of torches from the townspeople. But before they died, with her last breath, Nia Sanderson cast a spell promising that when a virgin lit the candle on the night of Hallow's Eve, the sisters would rise again.

Lexa stood on the front porch watching as witches and goblins, ghosts, and iron men, and captain americas, and zombies, and princesses, and winnie the poohs, and cowgirls littered the street, bustling about about, screaming excitedly to each other, pillowcases and pumpkin heads laden with candy.

She shivered and looked up at the full moon peeking behind the clouds. The sky was a dark slate, shadowed in blues and purples. The moon hung in the sky, a silvery white that simply glowed, pushing the shadows back. It was beautiful, but there was something chilling in the air, something more than the fall frost in the air. She pulled her sherpa fleece tighter around herself, trying to shake the feeling of...something...something big...impending...dark...something just around the corner.

She chuckled and glanced over, eyes widening slightly at the black cat that had jumped up on one of the thick marble railings. "Well, hello there, Raven." She reached out and scratched behind the black cat's ears. "I was wondering when I would see you."

She smiled at the way Raven bumped her hand, clearly in the mood for more scratching behind her ears. Lexa smiled, enjoying the soft silk of her fur against her fingertips. She glanced down at the red collar, with the old, tarnished heart hanging from it. It simply said _Raven_. There was something about the old metal heart that always made her feel strange, almost cold. It was old, her father had said that it had been made by a blacksmith, you could see the hammer dings in it. This wasn't a heart that was purchased on Amazon or at Petco.

But no one knew who the cat belonged to. She came and went. Lexa would go months without seeing her, and then she would suddenly pop up again. Lexa and her parents fed the cat every time. And when she was a child, she had tried to find the owners, hanging up flyers, even asking the local police if they knew who owned the cat, but no one knew. They only knew that the cat had just always...been. Even the old-timers who gathered down at The Witche's Brewe swore they had seen the same cat with the red collar and tarnished heart when they were children.

But a cat couldn't be sixty odd years old. Could it?

She glanced away, trying to shake the feeling. Raven never failed to show up on Halloween. Every single year as long as Lexa could remember, starting when she was four, Raven had appeared on the marble railing on Halloween night. She licked her dry lips and turned away again.

"Well, Raven, I think I'm going to take a walk. You coming?" She walked down the steps, knowing without seeing that Raven was a few steps behind her. They did this every year, walked down the streets, turned up the north alley, and kept walking until they reached the Sanderson Museum. It was the original Sanderson Cottage and had been passed down to her mother, and someday she supposed she would inherit it. She rarely went in. The cottage was...unsettling, especially on Halloween, but sometimes it felt like it was calling to her. And she knew Raven was intimately acquainted with the cottage. She had seen her around the cottage enough times to guess that maybe it was her home.

It had been her great-grandfather who had turned it into a museum in the very early 1900's, after returning from the Great War. He had been like a man possessed, cleaning out the cottage, repairing parts of it, and then setting it up as a museum. It was popular in the summer, but nobody went near it on Halloween, the curse hanging over them like an avenging shadow. And no teenager wanted to admit they were a virgin anyway.

She scoffed and tucked her hands into her pockets and stepped out onto the small street, turning left and walking down the sidewalk away from the center of town. It was quieter here, along the neatly cobbled sidewalks, the tall trees swaying slightly in the light breeze. She pulled the beanie down over her ears, wishing she'd grabbed her gloves. She walked down the street, nodding at the children tumbling about, the crowds quickly thinning out, as most people were headed to the center of town. Little Salem. It was technically part of Salem, but functioned as it's own small town of about 17,000 people. Big enough for a movie theater, golf course, boutiques and stores catering to the tourists, small police force and a ten man fire department, three healthcare clinics, and the hospital was only twenty minutes away in the heart of Salem. It was a good town, perfect for her. Not big enough to feel truly lost and alone, but still big enough to afford her a little bit of independence.

She turned crossed the street at the stop sign and turned the corner, Raven padding along behind her, only run into something or someone.

She yelped when their bodies collided, and she stumbled narrowly missing tripping over Wonder Woman.

"Damn!"

"Holy Hell Hannah!"

"You shouldn't swear."

She blinked and looked down, her eyes clashing with green that looked almost exactly like her own. "Oh..I...uh...sorry…" She muttered, pink blossoming across her cheeks.

She glanced over to the older girl, swallowing harshly at the sight of a wild mane of blonde curls tumbling about the girl's face, her snapback askew on her head, her blue eyes sparkling in peach cheeks.

"Sorry. Are you hurt?" She looked back down at Wonder Woman, "You ok?"

"Yup." Madi nodded and shuffled her feet leaning into Clarke's side, relaxing the moment she felt her sister's arm fall across her shoulders.

"Yeah. Yeah...sorry. That was my fault. I was hurrying," she laughed, pink now staining her own cheeks, as she scrubbed at her cheek with her other hand before grasping the brim of her hat, and turning it back so it was behind her head again.

Great. Her crush. Clarke had smacked right into Lexa, and damn if she hadn't smelled good. Like vanilla and lavender. She licked her lips and looked away, too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

Lexa smiled a little, she had noticed the blonde in a couple of her classes, and she didn't know much about her, a recent transfer from California. She knew the girl took a lot of art classes, including at least one class at the local college. She might have asked Octavia about Clarke. The two were in the same classes, both Juniors while Lexa was a Senior.

Clarke straightened her shoulders and stuck out her hand, grimacing a little when she remembered that she still had paint on her fingers, but it was too late, because Lexa grabbed it in shook it.

"I'm Clarke."

"I know." Lexa smiled and held her hand a little longer than necessary before finally releasing it.

"Oh. Right. We have some of the same classes," Clarke ducked her head glancing down just in time to see Madi roll her eyes at her. Madi might have only been nine, but Clarke still shared almost all her secrets with Madi. And Madi was well aware of who Lexa was.

She bit her lip, hoping and praying that Madi wouldn't...well be Madi. Just this once, her sweet sister with a corruptible streak might actually not out her in front of Lexa. Although she had an idea Lexa already knew she was bi, as she didn't exactly hide it. No, she prayed Madi wouldn't out her crush on Lexa.

"You're Lexa."

Clarke winced. Too late.

Lexa looked down at Wonder Woman, and then glanced up at Clarke, quirking her eyebrow at her, a small smile playing about her lips. It was clear that Wonder Woman knew who she was, despite Lexa not introducing herself.

"I am. And what is your name, Wonder Woman?" She held out her hand, smiling at the way Madi blinked owlishly up at her, chewing on her lower lip, before finally deciding to shake Lexa's hand. Lexa was surprised by the firm grip, but it still made her smile.

"I'm Madi, Clarke's younger sister. She talks about you. A lot. I like your cat. Our eyes are the same." Lexa blinked, her mouth hanging open a little, her mind buzzing with all the words that had just tumbled past Madi's lips.

 _Madi...Clarke...talks about you...cat...Cat? What cat? Oh! Raven!...eyes._

She nodded and chuckled looking up to meet the mortified face of Clarke, her peach skin now flaming red. She chuckled again and reached out, laying her hand on Clarke's arm. "Really?"

Clarke closed her eyes briefly, debating between yelling at Madi or just keeping her eyes closed forever so she wouldn't ever have to face Lexa again. But she was pulled out of her humiliating reverie by a squeeze to her arm, and the sudden warmth of a tall body almost pressing into her's.

"Hey. It's ok."

She looked up, blinking at how closely Lexa was standing in front of her. The older girl was only a couple inches taller, and only a few inches away. Her eyes wandered across high cheekbones, dusky skin with a light smattering of golden freckles across her nose, to full coral colored lips. She licked her own, wishing she had the courage to close the space between them, but before she could even finish formulating the thought, Lexa stepped back.

Lexa blew out a shaky breath, her skin warm enough now that she unzipped her jacket a little. She glanced down at Madi. "Yes, we do have the same eyes don't we." She bent down a little until she was eye-level with Madi.

"You know, Madi. I've noticed your sister too. I know she likes to paint, and she is funny. I like hearing her laugh," she whispered to Madi, pretending to ignore Clarke, but making sure Clarke could still hear her.

She heard Clarke gasp, and it made her smile again as she straightened. "Have you had fun trick or treating?"

Madi nodded and reached up grabbing Clarke's hand, "Clarke? Are we going to do more trick or treating, or are we going home?"

Clarke nodded. They'd already hit the houses on the lower end where they lived and were on their way to the center of town.

"Do you want to come with us?" Madi handed her candy basket to Clarke and then held up her other hand for Lexa to take.

Lexa was tempted, but she needed to do something first. She had been heading to the Sanderson Cottage, her yearly pilgrimage. She wasn't sure why, but the pull was even stronger this year, and by the way Raven was starting to rub against her legs, she knew the cat was anxious to get going also.

"I would love to, but I'm actually on my way somewhere. Unless you want to come with me?" She grabbed Madi's hand and looked expectantly at Madi and then Clarke.

"Ok!" Madi grinned and swung their arms, deciding for them. She pulled on their arms, turning back the way they had come and then looked up at Lexa, waiting for direction.

"Oh look! Your cat!"

Lexa turned and saw Raven ten feet ahead of them, standing in the sidewalk, tail twitching, clearly waiting for them to follow her.

"Raven isn't actually my cat. She only belongs to herself." Lexa pointed towards her. "Every year we visit the Sanderson Cottage. She knows the way."

"Oh I heard about the cottage, but don't really know the history. I heard there is a curse involved?"

Lexa nodded slowly at Clarke and then looked down at Madi, wondering how much to tell them.

"The Sanderson Sisters were witches: Nia was the oldest and the meanest, and Anya and Echo were twins, but they didn't look exactly alike. They say though that there were more children, children who died mister-mishteriously."

"Mysteriously," Lexa corrected as she stared down in surprise at Madi. "How did you know that?"

Madi shrugged, "I'm not good at reading. I don't like it, but mama gets me the audible books from the library so I can listen to them. And I like misherteries."

Clarke smiled, "She has almost perfect recall. She can quote back almost anything once she had heard it once or maybe twice. She likes mysteries. She was really excited to move here."

"You are from…"

"Los Angeles. We moved here in August."

They walked along slowly, the houses slowly falling away in the distance until they finally reached their destination. It was a medium sized cottage, only two, open rooms with a partially open loft that ran the entire area of the cottage.

The weeds had grown up around it, and Lexa frowned, wondering why the gardener hadn't been out to clear out the dying shrubbery. She shivered a little, staring at the front door, her fingers itching to grasp it and open it.

Raven had settled on a windowsill waiting patiently for Lexa to decide.

"It's a little spooky."

Lexa glanced at Clarke watching the way the blonde fidgeted, biting her lip, before she straightened her shoulders and puffed her chest out a little.

"Let's go in. It will be fun."

She was surprised the blonde wanted to go in, sure the younger girl was a little scared of it. She looked down at Madi who was staring intently at Raven, her brows furrowed.

"Ok," she heard herself say before she had even thought of it. She dug into her pocket for the key and dropped Madi's hand, approaching the door. It took a minutes of jiggling the old iron skeleton key before it finally clicked and the door opened with a small squeak.

 **Notes: Thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

They stepped into the large room, Lexa frowning again at the cobwebs. The museum had been closed for repairs for the last two years, but Lexa had assumed someone was at least cleaning everything. But she could see the dust coating almost everything, cobwebs in the nooks and crannies. She flicked the lights on, and the lights pinged and flickered before finally settling.

Clarke stepped inside, pleased that the lights at least worked. The room was full of items, many of them books. A table and chairs, a large cauldron. She rolled her eyes at that, sure it had been placed there for the benefit of the tourists. Witches weren't an actual thing.

But there was a large book on a pedestal, a glass box covering it. She glanced down at it, wrapping her fingers around the edges of the pedestal.

"Wow...so they actually put a spellbook in here?" She chuckled and laughed, "bet the tourists love that."

Lexa grumbled a little and moved further into the room, trailing her fingers through the dust. "It's real. The sisters are real, and so is the spellbook."

Clarke looked up, surprised at the tone in Lexa's voice. "Sorry," she muttered.

Lexa shrugged and sighed a little, "No, I'm sorry. The Sanderson Sisters are actually part of my family history. They were my great-great-great-great...well, a lot of great aunts. My family owns the cottage and museum."

Clarke nodded and walked around the room, checking briefly on Madi who was sitting in one of the old chairs at the table, patting Raven who was sitting on the table purring to her heart's content.

She stopped in front of a tall, thin metal handle holder. In it sat a pristine, fat black candle, the wick unburnt. It was the only thing that didn't have a layer of dust on it. She frowned and stared at it. There were numerous candles scattered around the room, most of them a whitish, yellow, wicks partially burnt. This was the only black one, never burnt.

"Lexa, what is this?"

Lexa glanced up from where she was reading one of the books written in the late 1800's that spun the tale of the Sanderson Sisters.

She set the book down and walked up to Clarke, their shoulders brushing each other. "It is the curse."

Raven stopped purring.

"How does it go?"

Lexa said nothing for a moment, before spinning the tale she had heard from her mother as a child. "The Sanderson Sisters were born in the mid 1600's, witches. Real witches. Not women that were simply independent and used herbs and such to heal people. They weren't like the innocent women in the Salem Witch Trials."

She shook her head, reaching out as if to touch the candle before snatching her hand back away. "They were real," she murmured. "Like Madi said, Nia was the oldest. By twelve years. Their parents were farmers, but Nia...Nia was different. She had a cruel streak. After Nia was born, legend has it that three boys were also born, and they all died mysteriously as babies. The oldest only living to be two or so. People whispered that Nia killed them."

"B-but, that would have meant she was a child too." Clarke gaped at Lexa and shook her head, sure it wasn't true.

"Yeah. Exactly. But then Anya and Echo were born. Twins, and they say they never cried. And they didn't look like each other, which was unusual. I mean it isn't unusual now. We know they were fraternal twins, but back then I guess fraternal twins only happened when a boy and girl were born, not twin boys or twin girls." She shrugged again and crossed her arms looking around the room.

"Anyway, the girls were born and were inseparable. Echo almost drowned twice, but each time, Anya saved her. And they said that Anya was badly burned once on her hands, like..really bad. But somehow Echo healed her? I don't really know. That part of the story isn't well known, and there aren't a lot of sources. Just a few diaries really."

She rubbed her hands across her face, needing something to do with them, unsure why re-telling the story she'd told her friends a hundred times, suddenly was hard to do. It felt different, telling the story on Halloween in the cottage. Different, because Clarke and Madi were there. Different because Raven was just a cat, and yet, she swore sometimes Raven stared at her so intently, that Lexa was sure she would open her mouth and speak.

"Stuff happened. The girl all grew up, and if people angered them, suddenly their hogs would die, their kids get sick, the rain wouldn't come. So the townspeople started to pay them tribute. Like give them money when they had it, give them their sheep and cows. They sold potions and stuff, stuff to heal people, and I guess it worked."

"And then the kids went missing."

Lexa and Clarke both jumped, turning around to stare at Madi who was sitting at the table, sorting her candy not looking at either of them as she continued. "Kids started going missing, and the sisters never aged. They should have aged, but they didn't. So people began to suspect that the sisters were somehow living off the children. Like sucking them up."

Lexa nodded slowly, "Yeah. That's it exactly. Every few years a child or two would disappear. Until they took the wrong child." She turned back to the candle, staring at it, imagining what it would look like lit.

"Which child?"

She jumped and her laugh quivered in her throat. "Aden. Aden Walker. They took Aden when he was only five years old. Lured him from his father's house. Aden was said to be a strange child. He never spoke," she muttered. His father was Finn Walker, but he was also called Aden Woods."

Lexa stopped, surprised at what she had just said. She didn't remember where she had read that Aden had also been called Aden Woods. She'd been obsessed with her family history when she was younger, and she had spent hours reading and researching the Sanderson line. She vaguely recalled the name Aden Woods in the genealogy and wondered if she had confused the two. There had been an Aden Woods in the 1600's, but he couldn't have also been Aden Walker, because Aden Walker had died as a child.

"No one knew who the mother was. He was delivered to his father's doorstep when he was about two years old. Or something like that."

"Maybe he wasn't Aden's father. Maybe he was just supposed to protect Aden."

Clarke turned and stared at Madi before walking over to her and resting her hand on her head. "Why would you say that, Madi?"

Madi shrugged and went back to sorting her candy. She knew she'd had kit kat bars, but now they were all gone. She wrinkled her nose and stared at the small candy bars in her hand. The wrapping was red, and they were nut and dairy and gluten and soy free, and egg free. But they actually tasted good. But she knew she'd had kit-kats! She sighed and went back to sorting.

Clarke looked around the room, noting the dust and cobwebs, the almost haphazard piles of what looked like blankets or clothes in one corner, dried lumber and a toolbox in another corner. Obviously someone had been working on the cottage.

She walked back towards Lexa, "So what happened then?"

"He disappeared. Dead they say. Someone saw him die, I guess and ran back to tell the townspeople. The came in the dead of the night and captured the sisters in the middle of doing a spell to gain their immortality. They hung them. Right outside the cottage from the tall sycamore tree."

Lexa said nothing for long moments, staring at the candle, her mind tumbling. History hadn't recorded who it was that had witnessed Aden's death and then run and gathered the townspeople and brought them back here. And that was odd, because history had recorded the events of the night in detail, even recording the names of the townspeople. The Blakes and Kanes had been present that night, the Millers and Monroes. Even the rest of the Sandersons had been there that night. They had even recorded the strange spell and ritual the sisters had enacted to suck the life out of young Aden Woods, but still...no one recorded who it was that had witnessed it all.

Clarke waited, giving Lexa a few moments to think about it. Whatever had happened here obviously meant something to Lexa, her family was tied to it. But it was still all legend. The sisters had probably existed, but they had probably been three women, refusing to conform and bow to the patriarchy like most women accused of witches. And they'd been murdered by the men of the town.

She pressed her shoulder against Lexa's gently, taking a deep breath and brushing her fingers against Lexa's. "Lex? What happened then?"

Lexa jumped a little, her fingers wrapping around Clarke's. She squeezed and intertwined their fingers together, smiling down at Clarke, suddenly feeling lighter. "With her dying breath, Nia cast a curse, claiming that any virgin who lit the black candle on Hallow's Eve, or Halloween night when the moon is full, will resurrect them again."

"And?"

Lexa shrugged. "That's it."

"Sooo...no one has ever tried to light the candle?" She nodded towards the candle. "This is a new candle, no way it is from the 1600's." She laughed and dug into her pants pocket, pulling out her lucky lighter, the one her grandfather had given her. He'd been a young pilot during World War II and had given her the lighter, claiming it had saved his life when he'd been shot down over Nazi-occupied France.

She flicked the lighter and smirked a little, hoping to dispel the gloom sitting heavily in the room. "Come on, let's light it, and see if the curse is real," she wiggled her eyebrows. "Stories are just stories, but we should light it anyway."

She held out the lighter to Lexa who shook her head and smirked back at her. "Sorry, Clarke, but that ship sailed this summer."

"Oh." She ducked her eyes, trying not to look as embarrassed as she could felt. Of course Lexa wouldn't be a virgin, of course she was dating someone! She suddenly didn't want to light the candle anymore, didn't want to be in the cottage, and didn't want to be near Lexa.

"She's gone now. Costia. She and her parents moved away. We were better friends than girlfriends anyway."

Clarke jerked up, color flooding her face again, but she couldn't stop the smile that practically split her face in two. "So...no girlfriend?"

"Nope. You?"

"Nope. No boyfriend or girlfriend."

Lexa nodded, already having suspected that Clarke was bisexual. The girl did have a patch on her backpack with the bisexual flag after all. And she had a rainbow sticker on her locker.

"You should kiss."

Clarke choked on her saliva, face flaming, as she whirled around to gape at Madi who was staring intently at them both.

"Wh-what?"

"Isn't that what people do when they like each other? It's what you did with that boy Finn last year. That was a lot of kissy-face." Madi wrinkled her nose. Finn had been ok, mostly. But she didn't like the way that he always wanted to spend time with Clarke, demanding that Clarke stop spending time with her, and with him instead.

"Kissy-face eh?"

Clarke groaned a little under her breath. "Yeah, he was just a boy. I broke up with him before we moved." She shrugged. "He was kind of annoying actually." She laughed and looked over at Madi, well aware that Madi hadn't really liked him.

"Yup. Annoying." The girl unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth, smiling as the sweet hit her tongue. She swung her legs back and forth looking around her.

"Are we going to get more candy?"

"Yeah, kiddo, we are," answered Lexa as she turned towards Clarke. She shrugged, "light it if you want, but we should go." She leaned in closer to Clarke, only inches away, her eyes searching Clarke's.

"You know, part of the legend goes that when a virgin lights the candle, she should be kissed at the same time."

Clarke bit her lip, looking up at Lexa from under her eyelashes. "Oh, really? Does it now?"

Lexa smiled and leaned in closer, daring Clarke. "Does it matter?"

"No." Clarke flicked the lighter, the flame springing to life, and she reached over and lit the wick of the black candle, just as Lexa pressed her mouth to her's.

It was a moment before she realized that something had crashed loudly outside, the wind suddenly picking up and roaring through the trees. The house shook, and for a moment, she was sure it was because of their kiss.

But as she pulled back, she saw the cauldron lit with fire, the flame from the candle black as night and growing higher and higher. Raven was howling, and Madi screamed, jumping up and knocking over her chair with a loud crash, as she ran and threw herself at Clarke and Lexa.

Lexa scooped her up, Madi's little legs fastening securely about her waist. She grabbed Clarke and pulled her back and behind her, stepping away from the candle. The light suddenly went out, and Raven howled again, the wind shaking the cottage. Books fell from the shelves, and the fire beneath the cauldron spit in angry time to the shaking of the house.

"Fuck! Fuck, Lexa! What is happening!?" Clarke grabbed at Lexa's arm, pulling her with her, terror licking along her nerves. It was a myth, a legend, a stupid scary tale that they told to kids to scare them. But the lit candle's flame was black, and it towered above them, almost reaching towards the ceiling now, but it gave off no heat, only a freezing cold slowly drifting through the air.

The lights were out, and they could barely see, and Clarke stumbled, her fingers gripping Lexa's arm, refusing to let go, relieved that Lexa was carrying Madi, as she was the stronger of the two of them.

"Shit, Clarke! I don't know. I don't know! We have to get out now!" She pulled Clarke towards her and circled around the candle, staring in horror when she realized that the glass case covering the spellbook had been shattered, and the pages of the book were fluttering madly in the wind. Except…

"Lexa, how is that possible. There isn't any wind in here?"

Lexa shook her head, her heart pounding in her ears, her skin hot to Clarke's touch, but felt icy to her own. She could feel the temperature dropping. She tried to make her way to the wall, and with every step they took, a new candle suddenly flamed to life, blinding them only to suddenly burn out again.

"I can't see, Clarke! Clarke!"

Clarke reached up, her hand scraping along Madi's head, trying to soothe the wailing child. "It's ok, Madi. It's ok, we are getting it out."

"Lexa, which way?" She was disoriented from the flashing candles, and the cold that was seeping into her bones, making her tired and dizzy. She fought to place one foot in front of the other, wondering why her movements were so sluggish.

" _This way! Hurry! This way!"_ She heard the voice off to her left, and she tried to make her way towards the voice, pulling Lexa with her.

" _Stop! No, move to your left, back! Back!"_

She followed the voice, obeying their every direction, until she was able to get around the table, stumbling against the pile of lumber.

" _The door. It's right in front of you. Hurry!"_

"Lex, this way!" She tightened her hold on Lexa and surged forward the remaining steps, her hand reaching out blindly for the handle. She closed her hand around it, and she pulled, struggling with the door as it refused to budge.

" _Push it!"_ The voice hissed again. And Clarke threw her weight against the door, gasping as she and Lexa and Madi tumbled through the door, tripping down the wooden steps to land in a heap in front of the cottage.

They lay there breathing heavily, their hearts racing and limbs trembling. The cottage was suddenly quiet, all of the lights off, the candles blown out. The wind outside had died down, and they could hear mice rustling through the leaves under the trees.

"Wh-what was that?!"

"Madi! Madi, are you ok?"

"I'm ok."

"Clarke?"

"Yeah."

Lexa sat up, pulling herself to her knees and then to her feet. She swayed slightly, relieved when Clarke wrapped her hands around her waist to steady her, before leaning forward and sliding her arms fully around Lexa's waist. She leaned her head against the back of Lexa's shoulders, trying to regain control of her breathing.

Madi scrambled to her feet, lifting her arms to Lexa, who immediately picked her up again. She was probably too old to be held like this, but she didn't care. She was afraid. They had done something. Something bad. Something was awake.

Clarke loosened her grip around Lexa's waist and slid her hands up Madi's legs, squeezing them gently.

"You sure, you ok, Madi?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." She nodded and pulled away, stepping around them both to look at the cottage, before turning back towards Lexa.

"Lexa…"

"Who were you talking to?"

"Wait. What?" Clarke looked at Lexa, surprise on her face. 'What do you mean who was I talking to?"

"In the cottage. Who led you out?"

Clarke stared at her for a full minute, her heart dropping to her feet. "Lexa," She stepped closer, her words somber and heavy. "You. Lexa, you led me out."

"No, Clarke," Lexa shook her head and wiggled her arms, readjusting Madi who still clung to her. "No, I was to your right, and that voice came from your left. I followed you, Clarke."

"L-Lexa, I...I don't...I followed…"

"Me. You followed me."

They both froze and turned slowly to face the cottage again.

Raven sat on the front step calmly licking her front paw, before gracefully jumping down the few steps to pad over to them and sit a couple of feet in front of them. She tilted her head back and stared at the three of them. It had been done. Finally. She had waited centuries for this night.

She had always known that the Griffins would return to Salem, having fled it the same night that young Aden Walker had supposedly met his end. Salem had a way of drawing the original families back, especially those with magic in their blood.

And nowhere was the more magic in Salem than in the three who stood before her: a Griffin and the true Sangedakru. Except...She peered over her shoulder, her body tense, the cottage was quiet, too quiet. She knew they were in there, waiting like the predators they were. They didn't have much time.

"Listen, I realize this is a lot to take in…"

"Oh my god! The cat is talking! The cat is talking! Why is the cat talking!?" Clare turned to Lexa who simply stood there, looking more than a little bewildered, her jaw hanging open, her eyes wide.

"Cool! A talking cat!"

Clarke focused her attention on the squealing Madi. "No, not cool! This is bad, Madi! Oh..god...it's the candy!"

Clarke grabbed Lexa jerking her around, terror coloring each word as she grabbed at Madi, trying to pull her into her arms. "It's the candy, Lexa! It's been poisoned, by...by...I...a...hallucogenic! Oh my god! Shit! Shit! We have to get her to my mom, she will know!"

Lexa simply stared at Raven, her mind buzzing. "C-candy?"

"Yes, I ate the kit kats!"

"I knew it!" crowed Madi, earning a wild glare from Clarke, who had finally managed to pull Madi from Lexa's arms. She wrapped both her arms around Madi and turned headed towards the long paved road back to town.

"It's ok, Madi. It will be fine, don't be scared." But the words felt useless, and she could feel her own panic bubbling up about to spill over.

"I didn't eat the candy," whispered Lexa, before finally turning and jumping after Clarke. It only took a couple of steps before she caught her, grabbing her gently by her arms and pulling her back into her own body. She turned her, unprepared for the sobs that suddenly jerked Clarke's entire body, or the way the blonde almost entirely collapsed into her arms.

Madi wiggled, unable to slip out of Clarke's hold, now squashed between two bigger bodies. She tried to crane her head around Clarke's so she could see Raven. Raven who talked, when she shouldn't. She always knew magic was real.

"It's ok, Clarke. It's ok," murmured Lexa as she ran her hands up and down Clarke's back. "I didn't eat the candy, and I hear Raven to. It's ok. We aren't hallucinating." She sighed and gulped. "This is real."

Clarke sniffed, Lexa's words finally piercing her growing panic. Her sobs slowly subsided, and she finally stepped back a little, and Lexa carefully prided Madi from her arms, setting her on her feet, keeping one arm around her tightly.

Clarke laughed, tears drying on her cheeks. "Better? Oh god, Lex. How is that better? Could it be real?"

All three of them turned to Raven who hadn't moved, but was clearly unimpressed. "Are you three done? Because we are almost out of time." She stalked forward, her eyes intent upon Clarke, her tail flicking with every step.

"Listen. My name is Raven Birch. I was born in 1667, here in Salem. And I was turned into a cat on the night the townspeople of Salem hung the three Sanderson Sisters. With her dying breath, Nia Sanderson cast a curse promising that they would rise again when a virgin lit the black candle under a full moon on Halloween. The sisters have risen, and we have go. Now."

"B-but...you can talk," sputtered Clarke.

"Yes, oh smart one, I can."

"Oh my god. Did she just sass me?" Clarke turned towards Lexa, her mouth open, hands on her hips, only to see Lexa trying not to laugh. "Really? You think it's funny that a talking cat just sassed me?!"

Madi laughed and grabbed Clarke's hand, pulling on it. "Come on, Clarke. It is kind of funny."

Clarke huffed and rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Raven. "Fine. You can talk. Look…"

But Lexa interrupted her, stepping forward and crouching down near Raven, "Could you always talk? And I just didn't hear you?"

Raven smiled as only a cat can and stepped closer, rubbing against Lexa's knee. "No, Lexa. I was always aware of who I was, but I couldn't speak until the candle was lit." She sat down and peered up at Lexa, her voice soft and gravelly, breaking a little "I've waited so long for this night, but we do have to go now, I will tell you the rest of what happened that night."

"Well, well, well. And what do we have here."

All three of them froze at the sound of the voice, before Raven turned quickly, crouching slightly, tail flicking wildly. She hissed and bared her fangs at the three figures standing in front of them.

"Well, well, Raven. It has been a long time. But how long exactly? Hmmmm?"

Lexa grabbed Clarke, who had already grabbed Madi, pulling them behind her. This was bad, very bad, because she recognized them from the sketches and paintings that had been done.

"It's the sisters," she whispered, throat tight with fear.

"Oh very good! Very good!"

The woman with reddish brown hair stepped forward and off the stoop, advancing on them slowly before stopping five feet from them. Her face was heavily scarred, but Lexa quickly realized that the scars were symbols and not random, and they were almost beautiful in a twisted way. The woman was thin, wearing a dark gray cloak, over a blue dress that obviously had gone out of fashion hundreds of years ago. Her eyes were ice blue and her chin sharp and haughty. She was clearly the one with the most power.

The woman to her left was taller with dark eyes and long brown hair tumbling about her shoulders in waves. She too wore a dress, long out of fashion, and leather shoes with buckles. Her cloak was dark green and clasped at the neck with, a large copper button. She grinned, her lips twisting, making her beautiful face all the more chilling.

And the last woman was taller than the rest, lithe and almost gangly. She wore what looked like a crown of interwoven branches upon her head, and her hair was long and brown with flashes of yellow in it. But it was her eyes, rimmed in what looked like charcoal with streaks spreading partly down her face that were the most startling. She wore trousers and leather boots, with a long coat studded with what looked like metal pieces.

"The sisters," croaked Lexa.

Nia laughed and waved her hand and the woman to her left stepped forward giving a little curtsey, before smiling and licking her lips and stepping further away from Nia, circling closer to Lexa and Clarke.

Raven hissed when the woman moved, and she hissed back, her lips twisting into a sneer. "We meet again, Raven. You were always annoying." She raised her hand, fingers extended towards Raven who backed up a step, just as the third woman stepped forward.

"Enough! We don't have time for this," She cast a quick glance down at the cat who was still staring at her sisters, but she knew Raven was watching her out of the corner of her eye. "Leave Raven be, we have no quarrel with this cat."

"No, quarrel?" snarled Nia, "she is the one who brought them to our door!"

"Yes, and you cursed her and she paid her debt to you. It is finished."

Nia stepped back and eyed her younger sister, her brows pulled low, her lips pursed slightly. It would appear that time had not brought her sister to her senses.

She stepped towards Lexa, smiling and holding out her hand. "So, you apparently know of us? Hmmm?"

Lexa swallowed harshly and nodded. "You are Nia," she jerked her head towards the woman in the green cloak, "that would make you Echo, the youngest twin." She pointed towards the last woman, the one with the crown. "And I guess that makes you Anya, the first twin."

Nia laughed and nodded her head, while Echo clapped her hands and twirled in place. "So you recognize us!" She flicked her hand in the air, "We are rather unforgettable. But enough of that," she flicked her hand in the air again, slowly letting her gaze roam over the three of them. "Tell me, what exactly are you wearing? Is it common for girls to wear pants? You are girls? Right?"

"Not that it matters, and gender is a social construct anyway, but yes," hugged Clarke in annoyance.

"A gender..what?" Nia cocked her head, confusion wrinkling her face and making the scars jump slightly. "Oh never mind. That isn't important. What year is it? How long have we been gone?"

"It is 2018," chirped Madi, as she shifted out from behind Clarke, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"It's...it's...2018?!" sputtered Nia as she raised a hand and rubbed at her forehead, sighing deeply. "Well no matter." She turned her attention to Madi, a slow smile breaking across her face, twisting her lips and highlighting her scars. She leaned down a little, while Raven spit at her.

"Aren't you a beautiful, little thing." She reached out towards Madi, as Echo stepped closer, her gaze intent upon Madi also.

"Look at her, Nia! So small and delicate! So...yummy," Echo murmured, excitement spilling from her mouth as she licked her lips.

Clarke and Lexa both grabbed at Madi just as Nia and Echo suddenly rushed forward. Raven yowled and threw herself at Echo, who had managed to beat Nia to Madi, claws extended. Raven yowled again when her claws dug into Echo's shoulders, her teeth catching Echol's ear as she bit down.

Echo screamed and backed away, jumping up and down, grabbing at Raven and trying to pull her off of her. But her hands couldn't find purchase in Raven's twisting body, and the cat started to slash at her shoulder, ripping through the cloak.

Nia stumbled, falling to the ground when Echo had shouldered her out of the way. She cursed and held out her hands, fingers sparking, but she was too weak to draw her power from the spellbook.

Anya crouched slightly, her hand going to her hip, where a long dagger rested, bound to her waist with leather cords. But she didn't move, her gaze darting between Nia and Raven clawing at her sister.

Echo finally managed to get hold of Raven, and pulled hard, screaming as Raven bit at her head and scratched her across her forehead. Echo screamed and cursed again, finally throwing Raven from her.

Echo bent over, angry tears coursing down her face, her hands gingerly poking at the scratches on her head and forehead. "Damn that cat to hades!" She snarled as she whimpered at the pain and the sight of the blood on her fingers.

Raven landed on her feet, twirling quickly and facing the sisters again. "Run!" She spat and hissed raising her clawed paw.

And this time Lexa and Clarke ran, Madi safely ensconced in Lexa's arms as they tore down the paved road as fast as they could back to down, Raven right behind them.

 **Thoughts?**


	3. Chapter 3

They raced down the road back to town, their feet pounding so loud, they could barely hear their heartbeats. Raven bounded ahead of them, curbing her speed enough so that they weren't to far behind her.

"Wh-wha-where are we going?" Gasped Lexa as she juggled Madi in her arms, thanking the goddess that she had spent all summer and fall working on her conditioning and strength training for cross country and swim.

Clarke could barely see the road in front of her, sweat running into her eyes. Despite the relatively chilly night air, she was quickly overheating in her thermal shirt and heavy sweatshirt. Running was not something she did often, and could barely form a coherent enough thought in her mind to curse the witches.

"Ou-our house," she wheezed as her feet slowed, and she slid slightly in the gravel to the side of the road. She leaned over, hands gripping her knees, as she prayed she wouldn't simply keel over. She wanted to vomit but managed to hold it back and straighten slowly, relieved to see Lexa standing there, Madi held tightly in her grip.

"I don't th-think...they are fo-llowing," she coughed and spit, wincing at the large glob of phlegm. This was why she didn't run. She glanced up at Lexa, who either hadn't noticed or didn't care. Clarke mentally chastised herself for even caring how she appeared to Lexa at this point. They were literally running from witches who wanted to...well, she wasn't entirely sure what they wanted to, but she was sure it wasn't something she was going to enjoy.

"They will. Their power is weak, but the longer they are together and with access to the spellbook, their power will grow." Raven circled around them, tail twitching, her eyes never resting as she peered into the darkness.

"We have to get to safety. We need to go now!" She bounded off into the dark, down the street, turning right and heading straight for the Griffin house.

Clarke shook her head slowly and looked at Lexa, "How the hell does she know where I live? She's a cat!" She muttered and started jogging again, following behind Raven.

"Except she isn't," murmured Lexa as she quickly set Madi on her feet and then crouched down, indicating for Madi to hop up on her back. The girl did quickly, not making a sound, but wrapping her arms tightly around Lexa's neck. Too tight, but Lexa said nothing.

"Follow them, you toads!" Yelled Nia as she pointed frantically towards the quickly retreating figures of Lexa, Clarke, and Madi. "Catch them! We need them!"

Echo snarled under her breath but bounded towards the edge of lawn, coming to an abrupt halt when she noticed the tarred road. Anya barrelled into her from behind, not realizing Echo had stopped until it was too late.

Echo wind-milled her arms trying to regain her balance, surprise and a little fear making her stumble and curse before she screamed, "Anya! Anya! Help me!"

Years of instinct made Anya grab at Echo's cload, hauling her back towards her and behind her, causing Echo to stumble backward. Unable to gain her footing, Echo fell heavily on her bottom, cursing as her skirts wrapped around her legs, effectively trapping her.

Anya ignored her sister flailing behind her, turning out her more colorful language, as she squatted down at the very edge of the tar. She looked up and down the road, face twisting, before she drew her dagger, balancing it in her hand for a moment, before abruptly stabbing it into the tar.

Her twelve inch blade sunk into the tar about an inch, before Anya quickly pulled it back, growling as she stabbed at the tar again and again, watching as large chunks flew up and landed on the road. She retracted her hand, eyes narrowed as she glared at her long dagger, which now stood straight up in the tar, the blade imbedded almost two inches.

She sat back on her heels, scratching at the side of her face before grabbing her dagger and re-sheathing it. She stood slowly and raised her foot to step onto the tar, but hesitated, craning her head behind her shoulder to look at Nia and Echo.

Echo had finally managed to regain her footing, red-faced and puffing. She limped over to Anya, but ignored Anya's smirk, bumping her shoulder hard. "What is it?"

"I don't know. Why don't you step on it and find out," muttered Anya, as she crossed her arms and waited for Nia to sidle up behind her. It caused the hair on her neck to stand on end, and she stamped down the instinctive shiver that threatened to shake all of her limbs.

"Well, don't just stand there like a cream-faced loon! Get out there! Find them!"

When Echo whined and shook her head, Nia shoved her from behind, causing her to stumble out onto the tar. She laughed when Echo shrieked, covering her eyes with her hands, before slowly dropping them to her waist.

"It is hard. Hard as a man's pecker!" crowed Echo as she laughed and jumped up and down, stomping her feet repeatedly on the tarred road. "It is a river of black!"

Nia gingerly stepped out onto the tar, trying not to appear as amazed as she was. "This is some kind of witchcraft. We shall find the witches responsible for this!" Nia rubbed her hands together, laughing quietly, "our sisters could prove very useful."

Anya spit on the ground, ignoring them both, walking a short way down the side of the road, and peering up, in the opposite direction from where the children had run. There was nothing to see except trees, and the black river curving off to the right. Everything looked different. Nothing looked like home.

"Anya! Anya! Listen to me, you silly cow!" Shouted Nia as she waved Anya towards her.

Anya rolled her eyes, but slowly turned and made her way back to her sisters, still avoiding standing on the road. She knew it wasn't a river, and it appeared that her sisters had forgotten the old game trail that had cut in front of their cottage. The "river" followed it almost exactly. She supposed it was used for transportation, a type of large trail, or maybe even a road like the main dirt one that ran through Salem. Or had run through Salem. If Salem even still existed.

Nia waited impatiently for Anya to finally walk towards her, seething with every slow and deliberate step that Anya took. Anya had always been quieter than she and Echo, her eyes never missing anything, her actions deliberate. She was slow to strike, but when she did strike, nothing withstood her, which is why she was so valuable to Nia. Anya had great power as a witch, but unlike Nia, she had never been as interested in nurturing it and wielding it. Anya had always been more interested in hunting and being in the forest with their father, that weak sniveling man.

Nia stared at her, lips pursed, brow furrowed as she considered her options. They were weak, too weak. They only had until midnight to finish the original spell that would make them immortal. And the three who had just escaped would be perfect sacrifices, their blood young and rich. It called to her.

Once Anya was standing next to her, she held her hands out in front of her, breathing deeply, calling on all her magic. She could feel it tingling in her fingertips, and she called The Book to her. She willed it to her, could feel it waking and moving on its pedestal, but it didn't heed her beckoning.

"Well, don't just stand there, you lubberwort!" She reached out and smacked Echo in the back of the head, "Go and fetch The Book!"

Echo shuffled her feet and rubbed the back of her head, pouting as she slouched off towards the cottage. She yanked on the door, letting it bang shut had behind her, smiling when she turned just in time to see Nia jump and scowl at her, a hand going to her forehead.

"Damn that girl!" muttered Nia as she rubbed her forehead. "She knows my head always aches when my power is low!"

"Maybe stop calling her names then," muttered Anya as waited, staring straight ahead, ignoring Nia who turned towards her with her fists clenched, a snarl twisting her lips.

Nia fumed, knowing it was no use. Anya had never been easy to get a rise out of, unlike the mercurial and often petulant Echo. Her mood swings made her easy to control, but Anya had one mood: disinterested.

Her lips twitched and drooped into the parody of a smile. She rested her hand on Anya's arm, rubbing it gently. "I am sorry, Anya. You were always the stronger of the two of us," her guts coiled into a hot ball, as she made herself a simpering fool in order to exert her influence upon her sister.

Anya laughed, her chest heaving with the effort, as she picked up Nia's hand between her fingers, dropping it to Nia's side. "You think, I do not know your intentions, Nia?" She turned to face her, her voice dropping, her eyes darkening. "I am your sister, not one of your insipid lovers of old."

Nia swallowed hard, cursing herself for having played her hand too quickly. She still needed Anya, couldn't afford to estrange her, not until she was strong enough to take Anya's power for her own.

She sniffed and stepped back, dragging her hands down her skirt, twitching it about her legs. "I meant nothing, Anya. You aren't exactly my type anyway."

Anya laughed again but said nothing, well aware that the fact they shared blood didn't seem to be what had stopped Nia. There was no end to Nia's depravity. And most of it didn't bother her, not until Nia had turned her monstrous appetites on the few that Anya had cared about.

"I'm baaaaack!" Echo jumped down off the steps, skipping towards Nia with The Book in her arms. "He didn't want to wake up, but I made him!" She giggled as she held out the book to Nia, who grabbed it from Echo, cradling it to her chest before looking at it.

"What did you do?!"

She pressed her face to the front of the The Book, placing soft kisses along the underside of the large, protruding eye in the very center of the cover. "What did she do to you, my love?" She murmured, as she cradled it with one hand, the other hand carefully tracing the cracked and wrinkled skin. She winced as her fingers scraped across the small cuts under the eyes.

She felt her magic surge, and she screamed in rage, her arm extended towards Echo, intent upon setting her on fire. But Anya jumped forward, grabbing Echo and hurling her to the side, as a dark grayish lightning leaped from her fingertips, leaving behind a scorched patch of grass where Echo had been standing.

Anya faced Nia, hand on her dagger, crouching slightly, her eyes never leaving Nia's. "Enough. You have your book. It is done."

Nia snarled, foam flecking at the corner of her lips, before she turned her attention back to The Book. She smiled when the large eye opened and blinked up at her. "Hello, my love. Welcome back."

"Mistress." The voice was old and sounded like gravel under a hard boot. It always made Anya wince.

The Book said nothing else, closing its eye, too tired to keep it open. It felt the little bones crack that bound it together when Nia opened it, could feel the itching whisper of dried human skin stretch across its spine. It had been made from the flesh of children, and their fear and pain still lingered in the lines of it's withered pages.

Nia cackled with glee as she held the book open and raised it to the sky. "Now where should we begin?" Echo pressed close to her side, her hands trembling.

Anya looked down the road.

It wasn't long before the Griffin household came into view, and Clarke dug her key out of her pocket, fitting it into the lock, and ushering Lexa and Madi inside. Raven slipped through the door as it was closing. Clarke locked the door and waited for Lexa to put Madi down.

"Madi, listen. Everything is going to be ok," she knelt down and wrapped her hands around Madi's slim arms, staring her in the eye. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise. I will keep you safe."

"We will keep you safe." Lexa put her hand on Madi's shoulder, smiling down at the little girl, before nodding towards Clarke.

Clarke looked up at Lexa, slightly surprised at how relieved she felt at Lexa's words. She nodded and blushed a little, dropping her gaze and fiddling with Madi's hands. "Ok, Madi. I want you to sit here on the couch and don't move until I come back."

She continued just as Madi started to shake her head, hands grabbing for Clarke's. "It's ok, Lexa and I are just going to make sure all the doors and windows are locked. Raven will stay with you."

Raven walked into the living room and jumped up on the dark, brown leather couch, waiting for the little girl to join her. Once Madi was sitting next to her, she crawled into her lap, letting Madi pat her. She didn't bother to tell Clarke and Lexa that locked doors and windows wouldn't keep the witches out for longer than a couple moments. But maybe a couple moments was all they needed.

Clarke and Lexa quickly locked the living room windows before stepping into the kitchen and locking the windows there and then locking the back door and front doors. Clarke hesitated at the front door, one hand on the handle, the other on the sliding bolt lock.

"What are we going to do, Lexa?" she whispered, tears pricking at her eyelids. "How is any of this even true?"

Lexa stepped close to her, resting her hand lightly on Clarke's lower back, "I don't know. I don't understand any of this either, really. Obviously this goes back to whatever actually happened that night."

Clarke nodded and flipped the lock, leaning back against the door and staring up at Lexa. "It's kind of uncanny. You and Madi really do have identical green eyes, right down the fleck of gold in your right eye."

"Really? I didn't realize you'd noticed my eyes quite so...much," she smirked a little smile playing about the corners of her full lips.

Clarke blushed and dropped her gaze, "I've noticed a lot of things about you the last couple of months."

"Oh?" Lexa inched closer, her arm sliding around Clarke's waist, firm and comforting.

"You chew the ends of your pens and pencils, and your fingers never stop. You roll paper or your pen in one hand and write with the other. You like to wear intricate braids, and black eyeliner, but you don't wear eye shadow. And you're a shoe-in for a scholarship for either swimming or running."

Lexa stared, eyes wide, a slow smile spreading across her face. "You always have paint on your pants, little flecks. I think some of it is from where you pick it from your nails. And your favorite t-shirt is a faded rus Jack Daniel's t-shirt. You wear it at least twice a week," she shrugged. She reached around Clarke's head, her fingers finding the brim of her snapback, "and you rarely are without a snapback.

She let her fingers fall from the brim, finding gentle purchase on the back of Clarke's neck. She tugged, and Clarke stepped forward, her hands sliding up Lexa's arms.

The kiss was soft, tentative, but soon Lexa pressed her mouth more firmly to Clarke's, her tongue flicking against Clarke's lips. And when Clarke pressed her body firmly into Lexa's, Lexa groaned a little at the feel of her curves pressing into her own. Clarke was curvier than Lexa, her mouth sweet, tasting faintly of chocolate and peanut butter.

Lexa brushed her tongue against Clarke's, humming at the taste of the younger girl, eagerly opening her mouth more as Clarke tugged Lexa more firmly into Clarke's body. Their tongues slid against each other softly, teeth scraping against lips, until Lexa reluctantly pulled away.

"You...you taste good. Like…"

"Kit kats," laughed Clarke as she blushed and then shrugged. "I traded out some of Madi's candy."

Lexa chuckled and wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist, leaning her forehead against Clarke's, eyes closed. She enjoyed the quiet moment, dreading the moment when they would have to return to reality, wishing she could just be a girl with another girl on Halloween night, eating candy and kissing. But not. Witches. Who would have thought.

Clarke sighed, clasping her hands behind Lexa's neck. "Fuck, Lexa. What are we going to do?"

Lexa shook her head, raising it and kissing Clarke on her forehead. "I don't know. I don't understand this, but I know someone who does." She frowned and stepped away, her fingers finding Clarke's.

They walked back into the living room like that, fingers tangled together. Lexa crouched down in front of Raven and Madi, eyes carefully scanning the younger girl, who seemed content as she continued to pat Raven.

"Raven…"

Raven cocked her head and then sat up from where she was curled in Madi's lap. "It's a long story, Lexa. You know part of it," she turned to Clarke continuing, "but you are part of the story also. Your ancestor, Adelaide Griffin, played an important role that night. In the disappearance of Aden Walker."

Clarke gaped at her, before sputtering, "Wha-what?! No. No! My ancestors wouldn't have hurt that boy, right?" She finished weakly, glancing up at Lexa for reassurance who looked almost shell-shocked at the news.

Raven shook her head, her thin lips curling over her fangs. "No! Adelaide would have never hurt a child, but she was the reason Aden disappeared." She stared intently at Clarke, green eyes almost glowing. "She saved him."

"Oh thank God," muttered Clarke.

"Saved him? But isn't he dead? That was why the townspeople hung the witches. Someone saw them kill Aden Walker!"

Raven shook her head, "No. No. It's true that the witches had killed children before. Well, not all of them, it was mainly Nia, although Echo never tried to stop her, even encouraged it," she muttered as she looked away.

"But was do we have to do with this?"

Raven glanced up, hearing clearly the worry in Madi's voice. She reached up, bumping the top of her head into Madi's chin, making the girl laugh. She purred and licked her chin, her heart galloping in her tiny chest. Madi….Madi with the green and gold eyes, who reminded her so much of...but she didn't finish the thought, turning her attention back to Clarke.

"Do you have the diary?"

"Uh, what diary?"

"The diary of Adelaide Griffin!" she all but growled, her patience waning by the moment. "Look, we don't have much time. Adelaide Griffin kept a diary, and she recorded everything that happened that night."

Clarke shook her head, frowning in thought, "No, no diary."

"Yes! There is a diary, she kept a diary. We need the diary."

Clarke shook her head, rubbing her hands across her face in frustration. "No! There is no diary, Raven! I would know if there was one."

Lexa placed her hand on Clarke's back, rubbing soothingly. "Look is the diary really that important?"

"Yes!"

"It's in mum's study."

All three of them jerked slightly and looked up at Madi who was calmly petting Raven, her eyes glued to Raven's back, where she was petting her.

Clarke placed her hand on Madi's knee, squeezing gently. "What do you mean, Madi?"

But Madi said nothing, her brow furrowed in concentration, her lips thin and white. She continued to pet Raven with her right hand, while she tapped a rhythm on the couch with her left fingers.

Clarke looked around for Madi's backpack, wincing when she realized that it had been left at the cottage. "Madi, I will be right back." She squeezed Madi's knee again and left the room quickly, running up the stairs and into Madi's room.

"Hey, Mads," Lexa placed her hands on the couch, bracketing Madi's legs. "You've been really, really brave tonight. Wonder Woman would be so impressed with you."

Madi's fingers hesitated, fumbling the rhythm, before she stopped completely, finally looking up at Lexa. "Really?"

"Oh absolutely! You are so brave and smart! I mean," she leaned closer, looking around as if she had a big secret, "you are braver than me. Much braver," she nodded, smiling when Madi smiled shyly at her.

Clarke burst back into the room, a tablet in one hand, and ear phones in the other. "Here you go, Madi, it's all queued up, your favorite Minecraft vids." She placed the earphones on Madi's head and hit play on the tablet, before finally turning back to Lexa.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For whatever you said to her. She was a little calmer when I walked back in."

Lexa smiled and nodded, plopping onto the floor, her back against the couch. "How does she know about a diary?"

Clarke slid down next to her, "I have no idea. I don't recall a diary." She picked at a faded spot on her jeans. "But...you know...mum does have a lot of really old books. There is one that I remember from when I was little, but mum couldn't really read it." She rolled to her feet, excitement growing in her belly and making her anxious. "She said it was written in code. It has to be it!"

Clarke held out her hand, pulling Lexa to her feet, and holding a hand out for Madi, tapping her on the shoulder until Madi finally looked at her. "Come on, to mum's office."

They trooped down to Abby's office, which was in the basement. Lexa secured the one window, relieved that it wasn't big enough for a witch to get through. Madi sat in her mother's big leather chair, twirling around, her legs swinging back and forth.

Raven sat on the arm of the large, leather couch that was against the wall next to the door. The rest of the walls were dominated by wall to wall bookshelves, each filled with medical textbooks and case studies. The smallest bookshelf held a number of books, all old, many falling apart.

Clarke ran her fingers down the spines, until her fingers found the one she wanted. She carefully pulled it out, as always amazed that the book was mostly intact, the leather still mostly supple. She set it on the desk, carefully unwrapping the leather ties from around the cover and opening it.

She remembered it now, remembered reading the first pages as a child, all the way up until October 3, 1693. That was when the writing changed. It was written as if in another language, but it wasn't one that Abby or Jake, Clarke's father, had ever recognized. They had given it to friends of theirs who were linguists, and general consensus had been that it was some type of code or perhaps even gobbly-gook written by a deranged mind.

She carefully turned the pages, gasping when she came to the date October 3, 1693.

 _I saw young Aden Walker this morning, walking with his guardian. I still cannot bring myself to call him his father. Master Finn Walker is a good man, but he did not take in the child out of the goodness of his heart._

"Holy hell Hannah!" whispered Clarke, eyes drinking in the faded words. "I can read it!"

Lexa leaned over her shoulder, eyes squinted. "I mean it is a little faded, but yeah, I can read it too."

"No, No! You don't understand," Clarke turned, excitement making her eyes spark. "I could never read it when I was little. No one could! My parents sent this diary to experts around the world, and no one could read it! They thought it was code or maybe gibberish."

Raven jumped off the couch, walking across the small room, before jumping into Madi's lap, bumping her head under Lexa's arm, until the brunette moved it so she could see the diary. "It's the curse. It's broken, and another curse is in its place."

"Wait. What? You mean there is more than one curse?"

Raven nodded. "It is in the diary. Adelaide Griffin cast a spell to protect the contents of the diary starting with the last day she saw Aden Walker. When you broke the original curse by lighting the black candle, freeing the witch, it also broke this spell. It also broke part of the spell cast on me."

When they just looked at her, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "I can talk now. But...I'm still a cat," she muttered.

"Wait? You weren't always a cat?"

Raven shook her head and jumped up on the desk facing them. "No, I was human once. Look, there is something that must be done. I need to do it, I will be right back. Read the diary, it will reveal much of what happened, and then I will tell you the rest."

Before they could protest, she jumped off the desk and bounded up the stairs.

"I guess we should read?"

Lexa nodded and picked up Madi carrying her to the couch. She sat down, setting Madi on her lap, and waited for Clarke to join them.

Clarke sat down, tucking one leg under her balancing the diary in her lap. And she started to read.

 _October 3, 1693_

 _I saw young Aden Walker this morning, walking with his guardian. I still cannot bring myself to call him his father. Master Finn Walker is a good man, but he did not take in the child out of the goodness of his heart. He had hoped that if he kept Aden, gave Aden his name, then Aden's mother would eventually agree to marry him._

 _Almost no one knows who Aden's true mother is. I and Finn Walker are the only one's. Aden's mother lives on the other side of the river, deep in the woods. Most of the townspeople avoid that area. It is where the Sisters live._

 _I was against it. But she would not listen to me. I begged her to take Aden and leave, but she couldn't leave her lover. I am afraid that this will not end well._

 _October 9, 1693_

 _Another child has gone missing. This time from a farm to the south. The family isn't well known in town, they do not attend Church. Some say the parents sold the child to the devil, but I met the father. His eyes were burdened with such grief. He is a man that loves his daughter, and she is gone. She is the third child to disappear in a year. The first child was taken from a farm also, ten months ago, the second child four months ago, and now this girl. The time between the stealings has grown smaller. I am worried._

 _October 11, 1693_

 _There has been much talk in town about the missing girl. The men took their muskets and swords and hoes and searched for her for three days, but the hounds lost her trail at the start of the dark wood. The hounds would not go further, pulling at their leads, whining and turning and running back to town. They had already searched the North and South Wood, they searched the river, and no sign of her. I fear she has disappeared into the Dark Wood. Has been taken to the Dark Wood._

 _October 13 1693_

 _Aden's mother was in town today. She stopped at Finn Walker's house. She pretended to be selling wares. It would not be seemly for her to enter his house without a chaperone. She can't afford to bring undue attention to herself._

 _Finn has told the townspeople that Aden's mother was his cousin, who died in childbirth. The boy's distraught father left Aden on Finn's doorstep in the dead of the night, two years ago. That is the story he tells. But she won't be kept from her son._

 _It isn't safe for her to be here._

 _October 17,1693_

 _The Preacher is in a dither, he was screaming in his fields this morning about the Sisters having burned his small plot of corn while still on the stalk. I spoke with Master Marcus Kane, who was there since he is the constable. He confirmed that all the corn had burned to a crisp on the stalk. The Preacher has been speaking out against the Sisters. He is trying to rally the rest of the townspeople. It won't be long, before someone voices what all of us fear._

 _October 21, 1693_

 _I saw the Blake siblings at the market today, Master Bellamy was angry and pacing and ranting, trying to set a fever upon the growing crowd. He has accused the Sisters of stealing the children, he says that they killed them, and cooked their bones for stew. Old Madame Haggerty fainted according to Mistress Octavia. Apparently it was a sight to behold. There is a bit of the devil in Mistress Octavia, and I love her all the more for it._

 _But the unrest is growing in the town. Some farmers from the south have come to shelter here in town, claiming that there are strange goings on in the Dark Wood, where the Sisters reside. They say that their farm animals are restless, the hens won't lay, and the milk cows have dried up._

 _October 26, 1693_

 _Aden's mother came to me in the dead of night. She was pacing in front of my small hearth, ringing her fingers. She is anxious and worried. She says something terrible is happening. I had hoped that the rumors in town were not true. She grabbed my hand, her fingers were like ice. And she whispered, "It is coming, the day of the ageless." When I asked her what she meant, she couldn't tell me, just shaking her head back and forth, wringing her hands._

 _She asked after Aden, and I told her that he was safe, but she shook her head and said none were safe. None of the children. Her words chilled me to the bone, and I could not breathe. So it is true. The children have been taken to the Dark Wood. I don't know what to do._

 _October 29, 1693_

 _Aden's mother came again. She said she is leaving, and she is taking Aden with her. She left me with a satchel and some coins. Asked me to go to Finn Walker and ask to take Aden on a picnic on the morning of the 31st. She says it will give her enough time to get ready, and she will meet Aden and I at the large bend of the river, just past the bridge. There is a copse of trees there, where one can hide easily._

 _Perhaps I should have told her no, but I could not. Aden Walker deserves to be with his mother, and his mother deserves to be free. I will make ready._

 _October 31, 1693_

 _Aden Walker is gone. He disappeared in the early morning, before the sun had risen. Finn Walker is frantic, and I don't know where his mother is. I took myself to the Dark Wood and cast a spell for safe passage. But she was not in her hut. Her hearth was cold, the charcoal days old._

 _Where are you?_

 _November 21, 1693_

 _I do not know where to begin, how to record the events of October 31 and the days that followed._

 _The Sisters are dead. They were hung on the night of October 31,1693 by the townspeople. They were all there, the Blakes, Monroe, the Millers, Kane, the Preacher. They were all there. And they were right to do what they did. They needed to rid the world of the evil of the Sisters._

 _But it was she. It was Aden's mother who sounded the alarm. She came rushing into town, staggering, her cloak torn, her eyes wild, screaming and crying that the Sisters had stolen Aden Walker, that she had watched with her own eyes as they sucked the life out of him. She fell to the ground, sobbing, her entire body wrenching and contorting in her grief. They could not console her._

 _This time, they found their bravery in this broken woman's grief. They allied and grabbed their muskets and swords, their hoes and rakes and torches. And they marched. They marched all the way to the Dark Wood with the moon hiding her face from them._

 _I took his mother, wrapped my arm around her and helped almost carry her to the Dark Wood, but she grabbed my arm, and we fell behind the mob, until they were around the bend. She took my hand, and pulled me along into the Dark Wood, but veering off the old game trail. She hurried me along, until we came to the mouth of a small cave, and there...was Aden Walker._

 _I do not know how to explain my great relief, nor my great anxiety at what it meant._

 _She wrapped him in her arms, peppering his face with kisses. She told me how her lover had freed him and brought him to her, and she had hidden him in the cave. She picked him up and held him close to her bosom, tears rolling down her face. She whispered to him over and over again, telling him she loved him. And then she pushed him into my arms, telling me to hurry. Take him across the bridge, and there a traveler would meet us with supplies and a horse. She told me to take him south, and she would meet us in seven days at Roodt Eylandt. The colony there was a safe place._

 _We fled in the dead of night, leaving behind the town and its torches. We were welcomed by John Williams Forrest, the grandson of the founder of Roodt Eylandt. He has been good to us, this young man with the warm eyes. But it has been twenty-one days, and still Aden Walker's mother has joined us._

 _I fear that she is gone. I have long suspected who her lover was, and perhaps the townspeople also discovered it, and hung the mother with the lover._

 _I am afraid that Aden and I are alone._

Clarke stopped reading, no one making a sound.

"I don't understand. Why did Aden's mother tell them that he was dead when he wasn't?"

"I can explain."

They gasped and turned in unison, none having heard Raven return, but their surprise turned to terror when Anya stepped into the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Lexa and Clarke jumped to their feet, Clarke jumping in front of Lexa, while Lexa scooped Madi into her arms, holding her tight, while one hand grabbed Clarke's upper arm, ready to yank Clarke behind her at any moment.

Anya raised her arms palms out, slowly inching her way into the room while Anya stayed only a few feet in front of her, guiding her to the middle of the room and turning to face Clarke and Lexa.

"Why don't you sit down. This is a long story."

"Absolutely fucking not," spit out Clarke, her voice cold, her eyes sparking with rage. "We trusted you, Raven! And you led her to us. She killed those children!"

"No, I didn't. Well, not really," muttered Anya, backing up a step when Raven turned quickly hissing at her.

"We don't need them," muttered Anya as she squatted down, balancing on her toes. She held her hand out to Raven, fingers beckoning, smiling slightly when Raven came to her, rubbing her face against her fingers.

"Don't need them?" Raven licked Anya's fingers, before backing away. "Are you so blind, Anya, that you don't see it!" She flexed her paws, her claws scratching against the carpet. She shook herself, tail twitching in irritation.

She circled Anya's feet, weaving between her legs, arching her back as she ambled over to the three humans, plopping down in front of them, her gaze never leaving Lexa and Madi's faces.

"Look. Anya. Look."

Anya sighed and straightened. Children were not part of this plan. She only wanted to escape with Raven and find a way to return her to her mortal self. But Raven was never one to be denied, she'd learned that hundreds of years ago. She stood to her feet, shaking out her arms, before putting her hands on her hips, scowling at the children.

She let her gaze roam their faces. Blonde hair and blue eyes, pale skin. She cocked her head, eyes narrowing even more, a distant memory tugging at her senses. It was like fog, quickly burning under a sun, and she couldn't grasp it before it was gone. She shrugged and turned to stare at Lexa and Madi. Their eyes glimmered in the low light, forest green.

She stepped closer, admiring the way the blonde stepped up to meet her, but her eyes were trained on Lexa and Madi. Identical eyes, forest green. She narrowed her eyes, reaching out with all her senses, until color exploded in her eyes, and she was drowning in forest green and swirls of gold. She could see nothing else. It slithered along her skin, warming every cell of her body. She gasped, her muscles twitching, she could feel the latent power buried deep within them.

She stepped back, stumbling hand to her chest. "Witches," she hissed, shaking her head, unable to get rid of the sensation of another mind whispering against her own. She knew it was the child, the little one with the curious eyes. She rubbed at her eyes, until slowly the green and gold faded from her vision, and she was left cold and wanting.

She opened her eyes again, but they were gone. And she was alone in the forest, darkness enroaching through the trees, like an invading army of shadows, slithing and wrapping around the trunks of the pine and birch, whispering across the broken grass, hissing along the dirt path.

 _"Anya! Anya!"_

She turned, eyes widening at the figure running towards her, carrying a small torch. She smiled in relief, opening her arms, but the figure passed by her, headed down the path. She turned in confusion, pain splintering across her chest.

"Raven," she whispered, her fingers twitching trying to call her back.

 _"Anya!"_

 _"Quiet! Shhhhh...my sister has ears in this forest."_

Anya turned fully, mouth dropping open slightly as she watched Raven embrace...herself. Except this was Anya of old, judging from the long gray dress Raven wore, the cap on her head, and the dark cloak wrapped around her shoulders. She turned quickly, nothing but forest as far as the eye could see. The dark river by their cottage was gone. It was if it never was.

And now...now she remembered. She walked towards them, knowing what was coming. She reached out to grab Anya's shoulder, but hesitated. This was not her power. She had somehow been transported back in time, except everything was off just a little. It felt more like a dream. She chuckled and shook her head, amazed at the dormant power.

She was a trespasser in her own memory, and now she knew the answer to what she had always wondered. The pieces fell into place, clicking with a certainty, that it had all been ordained. Fate had decided long before this moment what the outcome would be.

She watched them hold each other, both knowing that their plans would not come to fruition. She cocked her head, the sounds of the forest changing. Distant voices. Many voices. Too many. She squinted her eyes, looking up the road. She was sure she could see the first glimmers of torches, or perhaps it was just her imagination, because she knew what was coming next.

And she recognized the exact she made her choice.

 _"Raven. Is he...is he safe?"_

 _Raven nodded, cupping Anya's face, rubbing her thumbs across her high cheekbones. "He is safe, beloved. I took him to Adelaide Griffin." She tutted when Anya stiffened slightly. "It's ok. Adelaide is my friend. And well, actually I took her to him. I gave her all the coins I have. We will meet them in seven days in the Roodt Eylandt Colony. We will be safe there."_

 _Anya nodded, her heart sinking. Their time was up, she could hear them now, coming. She was too late, but at least he was safe, and now she had to ensure that Raven was safe._

 _She smiled, her heart seizing with bitterness, her rage building and burning her very bones. Her sister had brought this upon them, and Anya knew, they would never be safe as long as Nia lived. She would continue to hunt them for eternity, because Nia had long suspected that Anya had found a way to use her power to create life, something Nia had never accomplished. Life from nothing, a breathing and living child. If Nia could create her own child from nothing but pure magic, she could live forever in the child, possessing their soul and power. And now Anya understood fully, the children who had died at Nia's hands. Why they had died._

 _She stepped back slightly, hands around Raven's arms. She leaned her forehead against Raven's. "I have to go. I have one last thing to do. But I will join you. I swear it." The lie was bitter upon her tongue, but she had to make Raven believe._

 _"You need to go. Go back to Adelaide and go with them." She cupped Raven's face, as the younger woman was already shaking her head._

 _"Yes, you need to be with our son. He needs his mother."_

 _"He needs both of his mothers," whispered Raven, tears scalding her cheeks. "I won't leave you."_

 _"Do this. Do this one thing for me. Go to our son, and I will see you again. I swear it."_

 _She pressed her lips to Raven's, cutting off her protestations. She let herself be weak for a moment, revel in the warm feel of her lover's mouth against her own, and too soon she was already pulling away, pushing Raven from her._

 _"Go! They are coming, and I will follow soon." She waited until Raven nodded, tears dripping down her face, before Raven started running down the long dirt path._

 _Anya turned and nodded, whispering in the cold night air, her hands extended, calling on what little power she still had. Most of it had been depleted in their rituals as Nia had readied for the final ritual, which she thought would grant her immortality, except she had the wrong child. Again. It was Aden she needed to be truly immortal. Her child. Her son._

 _She called the shadows to her, arms shaking with the effort, throat dry as she mumbled the words, watching as the darkness coalesced around her hands, before she thrust her arms straight out in front of her, watching as the darkness roared up the path, attacking the trees and duplicating them, making the road stretch out even longer than before. It would buy her enough time to make it back to the cottage. To stop Nia. To stop them all. Forever._

Anya watched as the road and forest stretched before and behind her, she felt the jolt of magic, everything around her take a collective breath and hold it. It had bought her precious minutes, minutes she'd used to her advantage, thwarting Nia, but she hadn't had enough power to stop Nia from casting a curse.

She heard a sound behind her and whirled around, hand on her dagger, teeth bared. She gasped as she saw Raven sneaking through the forest, headed back towards the cottage.

"No! No!" She rushed forward, hands grabbing at Raven, but grasping only cold air. She felt her heart quake in her chest, and her limbs freeze. "No!" She stomped her feet, her rage burning along her nerves. It answered the question of how Raven had ended up back at the cottage. She had already known of course that Raven had been caught up in Nia's curse, but she had thought the townspeople had captured her and brought her to the cottage.

She shook her head, tears burning her eyes. "Ok. I get it."

She found a wave of frost crash against her limbs, and she snarled at the way it seized at her flesh and made it quake. But in a moment she was back in the study with Raven and the humans. She gasped and leaned over, her hands clenching her knees.

She breathed for a moment before straightening and looking at Raven, "You came back."

"Of course I did. I was never going to let you face Nia alone."

"But...Raven...Aden…" She whispered.

"He was safe. I knew we could trust Adelaide." She turned and jerked her head towards the three humans. "And look, Anya. I was right."

Anya shook her head and straightened, crossing her arms over her chest. She stared straight at Madi, waiting for the child to acknowledge what she'd done, but Madi simply yawned and laid her head on Lexa's shoulder.

Anya looked back down at Raven who shrugged. Raven knew something had happened, she suspected their latent abilities, but she couldn't feel it, not the way Anya could.

"How do you know for sure?"

Raven chuckled and rubbed against Lexa's legs, "I always suspected, but it was when Clarke and Madi literally crashed into Lexa. Even I could feel their magic awaken."

"Wait...what?" Lexa shook herself, trying to focus on what Raven had said. "Magic? What magic?"

"Our magic, silly," murmured Madi as she yawned again, sleep crowding the edges of her mind. "We woke up Aden's magic."

Clarke turned quickly, her hands coming up and resting on Madi's back, "Madi? What do you mean Aden's power?"

But Madi said nothing more, succumbing to sleep.

Clarke turned and looked at Anya and then Raven and then finally up at Lexa. "Lex, I think we should sit down for this."

Lexa nodded, but turned her focus back to Anya. "Are you here to hurt us?"

"No."

Lexa nodded and sat down next to Clarke, carefully moving Madi in her arms so she was still comfortable.

"Ok. Look we know Adelaide Griffin escaped with Raven's son, Aden. They escaped to Roo-rudt...whatever place."

"Roodt Eylandt," muttered Anya.

"Rhode Island. It was a new colony founded for the disenfranchised. Adelaide Griffin made it there with Aden. The diary tells that much," supplied Raven, as she sat at Anya's feet. She looked up at Anya and batted her knee with her paw. "Sit."

Anya grumbled but acquiesced sitting down in the rolling office chair, only to jump to her feet when it slid across the floor. "What the goddess!" she bellowed, growling at the way the chair moved. She glared at Clarke who had laughed.

Raven rolled her eyes and jumped up on the desk. "Sit here." Once Anya had sat on top of the desk, she curled up in Anya's lap, relaxing as the woman stroked her fur.

"We know Aden," she swallowed hard and looked up at Anya, "our son, survived. I was able to trace part of his lineage into the late 1700's, but then it just dried up. Adelaide raised him, and she married John Williams Forrest. He raised Aden as his own, and they had more children. The diary was passed down from mother to daughter."

"So Aden was your son? Both of your's? But how is that possible. I mean...um...both of you are women, right?"

Anya nodded at Lexa, "Yes. But we did it with magic. Raven has no magic, but I do. Aden was born purely of magic."

"And our love," said Raven, her tail flicking against Anya's arm.

"Yes, magic and love. He was both human and magic, and it was his eyes."

"What do you mean, his eyes?" asked Clarke, although she had a feeling she already knew where this was going. She could feel the nerves building in her stomach, and she felt strangely cold and nauseous. She grabbed Lexa's hand, relieved at the warmth of her strong fingers wrapping around her own.

"Anya and I both have dark brown eyes, but our son had forest green eyes with swirls of gold. Very unique. Exactly like you," she nodded towards Lexa, "and Madi."

Lexa leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes, remembering how her father had remarked that everyone in their family lines had always had brown eyes, except for a rare few who had the forest green and gold. It only popped up every few generations, on her mother's side. The last person to have had her eyes was her great-great grandfather.

"So...what? Lexa and Madi are related?"

"Yes, they are descendants of Aden. Through my studies, I discovered that Aden's line had intermarried with the Sangedakru Clan, your mother's line. Interestingly enough, his line had also married into the Tri line, your father's."

"Oh god," groaned Lexa. My parents are cousins?"

Raven chuckled and shook her head, "Aden's line merged with the Sangedakru and Tri, but they didn't merge until you. I've come across rumors that the Sangedakru also had access to magic." She shrugged and started licking her paws, "Not sure if it is true or not, but no, your parents are very, very distantly related, from hundreds of years ago."

"But what about Madi?"

Raven paused her licking, before continuing slowly, "I'm not sure. But I believe she is the last direct descendant of Aden."

"She is."

They all turned to look at Anya, and she continued quietly, "I can feel it. You all have dormant powers, Clarke's being the weakest, but that is because she is descended from John Williams Forrest and Adelaide Griffin. Adelaide Griffin was a witch, but not as powerful as my sisters and I. But Madi is directly descended from Aden, she has to be. She has the eyes and the power. We knew Aden had power. I had curbed his power when he was a baby, to keep him safe."

"But who was Aden's direct line?" Clarke shook her head, "this doesn't make sense. Didn't you say you lost track of Aden's line in the 1800's, Raven."

Raven nodded, "The Forrest line disappeared."

"It's because they took the name Woods." She squeezed Clarke's hand and nodded. "My family has been tracing their geneology for a long time. My people were originally slaves in America, so it was important to us. Aden Woods appeared somewhere in the mid-1800's, but we couldn't trace him back. It was like he never existed, but there were other ancestors we could trace further back, just not him."

"That makes sense, actually. It was pretty common for people to change their names, or to have their surnames spelled incorrectly, so they started a "new" line." Clarke leaned her head against Lexa's shoulder, "but isn't Lexa related to you also?"

Anya nodded, "The Sandersons were originally Sangedakru. She is related to me through her mother's line and through Aden's." Anya shrugged and looked down, runninger her fingers lightly down Raven's furred back. She closed her eyes for a moment, bringing forth the last memory of Aden, his small, warm body pressed against her chest as she walked through the woods carrying him to the cave. She'd been without him for years, having agreed with Raven that he had to be given to someone they could trust, to keep him away from Nia. She hadn't liked Finn Walker, but she knew he loved Raven enough to do it.

She sighed heavily, pulled from her memories by the sounds of Raven's purrs filling her ears.

"So basically...we are all sort of related?"

Raven nodded at Clarke, "I think so. You might actually be related to Aden too. I think his line also joined the Griffin line in the 1800's but I'm not sure. But it might be where Madi came from. And you. It would make sense. He was raised by the Griffins and Forrests after…" her voice trailed off, and she looked away.

No one said anything. There wasn't much left to tell. It was obvious the tale of their son was painful to them both, a wound that had never healed.

"You look like him."

No one questioned who Raven meant. It didn't matter who it was directed at.

"Right. Ok. So we are all basically descended from witches and magic. Ok. Fine. How do we defeat Nia and Echo? I assumed you are going to help us?" Lexa looked at Anya, eyes narrowed, not willing yet to trust this woman, this witch, who she was related to not just through her mother but through Aden.

"Their powers are weak. As are mine. They have until the sun rises to gain their immortality. There is more than one way to do it. For true mortality, they would need Aden or a descendant of Aden…" Her voice trailed off, her breath catching in her throat.

She hadn't realized until this moment, even though she should have, the full magnitude of what she was saying. Aden's children sat in front of her: Lexa and Madi, with the same brown hair as Aden, the exact same eyes, burning with magic. She could clearly see her son in their faces, she could even see Adelaide Griffin in the turn of Clarke's nose, the way she flexed her jaw.

She felt the tears burn her eyes, and her shoulders slumped. "You are Aden's children," she drew a shaky breath. "You have his power, and you can make them immortal. If they can't have you, they will take as many children as they can. The children's life force will allow them to live beyond tonight, until they can fullfil their true immortality."

"As much as I hate to ask, how exactly?" Clarke gripped Lexa's hand tighter, her eyes straying to the soft rise and fall of Madi's back.

"They suck the life force from children, they will have to do it every few days or weeks maybe, to stay alive until they can get to you three. I really don't know how many children."

"Even one child is too many," muttered Raven as she sat up and stretched.

"How do we defeat her?"

"WE do nothing. I will do it," stated Anya as she stood to her feet, carefully setting Raven on her feet. She recoiled quickly, snatching her hand back as Raven hissed and swatted at her.

"Sorry. Raven and I will do it."

"Oh really? And do you know where you are? How exactly do you think you are going to travel around here? Navigate a world you know nothing about?"

Anya opened her mouth and then closed it again, flummoxed by the blonde who was on her feet, arms crossed over her chest, spitting fire at her.

"You don't even have any power, and you don't know how to work a phone, you don't know what a car is, anything! You certainly don't know how to talk to people or find your way around this town. This town has changed a lot in the last few hundreds years. There are tens of thousands of people here!"

"Wh-what? Tens of thousands?!" Anya gasped, remembering when a couple of hundreds people was a big town.

"And you can't go running around with a big ass sword."

"Dagger," corrected Lexa as she stood up, carefully laying Madi down on the couch before standing next to Clarke, and sliding her fingers between Clarke's.

Anya nodded approvingly that Lexa at least recognized her weapon.

"Dagger. Whatever. The point is, you need us." Clarke crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Anya, daring her to argue more.

"And what of Madi?"

Clarke felt the air leave her chest, and her arms dropped to her chest. "Fuck," she muttered as she looked up at Lexa, pleading.

"I think Madi is better off with us. Who better to protect her from three witches then um...another witch, and uh...magical beings? And a cat." Lexa nodded firmly.

"Well at least you didn't question the cat helping," muttered Raven as she twitched her tail at Lexa.

Lexa grinned sheepishly, rubbing at the back of her neck. "Look, no one is going to believe us even if we told them and tried to leave Madi with them."

"She's right. Madi is safer with us. No harm will come to her," Anya bared her teeth, her lips curling into a small snarl, her eyes darkening. She smirked when she saw Lexa and Clarke both step back, swallowing noticeably.

"Ok. Good. That is settled. We all stick together. So….how exactly do we defeat them?"

"We don't. Not really. Time is on our side, but not on their's. They only have a few hours to become immortal, or the curse becomes active again, but this time, they die never to return."

"So basically we need to keep them away from town, and especially children." Clarke nodded and rubbed her hands together. "Ok, we can do that. We can figure this out." She stepped away from Lexa, walked around Anya to get to one of the bookshelves. "I know there is a detailed map of Little Salem and Big Salem here. We can figure out where the kids are congregating and keep them from that area."

Raven jumped up onto the bookshelf to help Clarke peruse the books, but Anya and Lexa stood across from each other, neither saying a word, just staring at each other. Both knowing what the other two had yet to realize or acknowledge.

Anya's fate was tied to her sisters', and she was still part of the curse.

"But I'm hungry!"

Nia huffed in irritation, tempted to turn her younger sister into a toad, preferably one with warts, but she couldn't afford to waste what magical energy she had, not until she could find suitable children to recharge.

She turned on her heel, attempting to keep the sneer off her face as she tried to placate Echo. "I realize you are hungry, but think of the children! Soon we will be closer to Salem," she gestured down the road towards the city, "and we will have access to all the children we could want." She grinned in anticipation, imagining the feel of the magic rushing through her blood, making her mind grow warm and fuzzy, as she siphoned the life from the children.

Echo stomped her feet on the hard, black road before looking down quickly, trepidation coloring her features. She still wasn't sure what she thought of this solid, ink black river. It was a type of magic she had never seen before, and she couldn't help but wonder if the witches they were sure to find would be more powerful than them. Perhaps it would be better to avoid the town.

Echo gathered her cloak tighter around her thin form. She sulked as she looked down at her feet, putting one in front of another as she followed her sister down the long river. Her sister was carrying The Spellbook. She hated that book, was more than a little afraid of it. It had been made with the flesh of humans, children, and had been brought to life with a magic so old and dirty, so obscene that even she didn't want much to do with it.

She peeked up from under the hood of her cloak, glancing around at the tall trees that were starting to thin out. She could hear faint sounds floating down the river, sounds of mayhem and terror. So much high-pitched screaming.

She smiled thinking about the inevitable chaos that awaited them, but her smile faltered when she looked glanced around again, acutely feeling Anya's loss. Her sister had left soon after the children had run off. Se had said she was going to scout ahead, and while Nia had been suspicious, she had waved her away, sending Anya loping through the woods.

But Echo had seen the small, black form slinking along the treeline, had recognized Raven even from such a distance. Magic had its uses. But she'd said nothing, her loyalty to her twin trumping her fear of Nia.

She shuffled along, sometimes skipping along aimlessly to the bleating tune inside her head.


End file.
